Yes, I am one too...
Chances are we are all looking for a solution to hit us right in the face but it won't! We seek help we try to find ways to combat this ILLNESS because indeed that's what it is!

The first step...Admitting that you have the problem!
-This was an easy one for me, I knew it because i constantly worry about heart attacks and that is the only thing i ever worry about.

Secondly; Why?
-I have two reasons I believe i am a hypochondriac;
1. I use to smoke this synthetic weed called "K2". It's actually labeled incense but it's uses are for the reasons that I used it. Every time I smoked it i felt like i was dieing of a heart attack. I done it so many times spinning in and out of the cycle i may have caused some serious damage to myself. I still did it anyways to fit in even though I wasn't having fun, I was scared **** less.

2. Not having control over death.
I am a very controlling person, i know this sounds self-centered, but I do not try to control everything for my own benifet. I try to take care of my family and myself as much as possible and when it comes to death we never know when we are going to go but that frightens us so much. We must accept the fact that we can not predict our deaths or we can not go against gods will! he has a plan for us all and we can not combat death!

Lastly; Finding the solution!
we may think it un-curable or treatable but we must remember that if you have faith in something strong enough it will work!

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Now, bear with me. Try to figure out why you are one! what is your flaw! it might help you out like its helping me.

On a side note;
-I feel more scared when others aren't around

*DISCLAIMER*
I am not a doctor so take my advice as a personal opinion only and not to be confused with a medical expert!

My family life has always been really messed up, my mother had to deal with so much anxiety that she really was emotionally distant.

At the age of 10 months old, my older brother was struck and his head was run over by a truck. He instantly went into a vegetative comma, about 6 months later my father passed away from a massive heart attack (most likely caused by drinking and the stress of what happened to my brother) and 14 years after my brother was struck, he passed away lying in his hospital bed.

I had an aunt that lived in the apartment upstairs, and she was a hypochondriac, and she would project her fears on to me as far back as I can remember. She would tell me often what she thought she was dying of. I know she didn't mean to do me any harm, she just needed to talk through her fears, but what she didn't realize is she set the tone for my hypochondria even today. If you compound all the things happening in my life, it's a no wonder that I am able to function normally on a daily basis.

I have never been on medication for my hypochondria. I usually go 6 or 7 months without incident, then something will happen in my brain that will trigger an episode.

Like many others I constantly worry that what if this time it's true and I think that's the biggest problem that most of us have.

I am currently working through an episode and I am convinced that I have cancer (esophageal, stomach, lung etc..) , to which I certainly hope isn't the case.

My mother was a hypochondriac; it was just one of the many issues between us but it did really get me down when she would ring me up just to run through her latest ailments. Any logical suggestions I made were ignored, and so I learned that all she really wanted was for me to listen. She was so hypo that her doctor had her removed from his lists (we live in UK so it's NHS medical care), and it's my belief that she had several procedures which in reality were not actually necessary. And she expired of natural causes (heart/renal failure) in her late eighties.

So you'd think I might have learned from that? No way, all I learned is that I'd better research every ailment myself rather than have the doc get impatient and stop listening to me. My mother was like that all her life; I've only become like this since I stopped working and had time to focus on things. Consequently, I've had (in my mind) bladder cancer, renal cancer, TMJ cancer, breast cancer, hypertension and now esophageal cancer. And that's only this year! I keep a health diary - and so as the symptoms of each of these fears has diminished, I've been able to look back and see how stupidly neurotic I've been. When I have been to the docs, which is not often, I've found that every ailment has a fairly routine remedy. When I haven't been to the docs, I've found that just letting time pass is a great healer.

Something else I've found: we went off on our boat for a couple of months recently and when I came back I realised I'd made no entries in the diary. I had something else to occupy me.

So that's my story. I've no suggestions other than the two above. But one thing I would say for those young people on this thread of the forum: the chances of any issues being serious or life threatening has to be relatively low. Take comfort from that thought.

My mother was a hypochondriac; it was just one of the many issues between us but it did really get me down when she would ring me up just to run through her latest ailments. Any logical suggestions I made were ignored, and so I learned that all she really wanted was for me to listen. She was so hypo that her doctor had her removed from his lists (we live in UK so it's NHS medical care), and it's my belief that she had several procedures which in reality were not actually necessary. And she expired of natural causes (heart/renal failure) in her late eighties.

So you'd think I might have learned from that? No way, all I learned is that I'd better research every ailment myself rather than have the doc get impatient and stop listening to me. And I also learned not to bother my husband with all this stuff, because I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of it.

My mother was like that all her life; I've only become like this since I stopped working and had time to focus on things. Consequently, I've had (in my mind) bladder cancer, renal cancer, TMJ cancer, breast cancer, hypertension and now esophageal cancer. And that's only this year! I keep a health diary - and so as the symptoms of each of these fears has diminished, I've been able to look back and see how stupidly neurotic I've been. When I have been to the docs, which is not often, I've found that every ailment has a fairly routine remedy. When I haven't been to the docs, I've found that just letting time pass is a great healer.

Something else I've found: we went off on our boat for a couple of months recently and when I came back I realised I'd made no entries in the diary. I had something else to occupy me.

So that's my story. I've no suggestions other than the two above. But one thing I would say for those young people on this thread of the forum: the chances of any issues being serious or life threatening has to be relatively low. Take comfort from that thought.

Hi, everyone! I am curious to know if any of you have actually been diagnosed with hypochondria or just think you are. Generally if you are obsessed with only one or two bodily sensations then you might have sensorimotor OCD like I do. I thought for the longest time I was a hypochondriac but when I finally went to see a therapist I was diagnosed with the SMOCD and it makes much more sense to me and feels exactly what I have rather than always thinking I have a different disease every single day I focus and "obsess" with ONLY my breathing and heart and have the catastrophic thoughts over and over and over.

No I've never been diagnosed as a hypochondriac, and never discussed it with a doctor. All I need is for some new symptom to develop and off I go on a merry-go-round of internet research and worry. The extent to which I freak out, and the duration of the anxiety will largely depend on my mood, and whether I have anything or anyone to distract me.

This will make you laugh. The other night I went for a pee and noticed that the water in the loo was all foamy. I remembered reading something about that so I looked it up, and it can be a sign of milk-alkali syndrome, which is made worse by overdosing on calcium containing products. Since I have GERD (or oesophageal cancer depending on how stressed I'm feeling) I do tend to pop antacids quite a lot. So then I started fretting about the damage I might have done to myself in this way and wondering how I'm going to cope without antacids.

This angsting went on all evening, until later on that night I discovered that it was the toilet deodorising block that was causing the foam.